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Monthly Archives: August 2016

If Canadians would suspend their irrational pressure on the host country at the upcoming revived World Cup (Team Canada always has the most pressure on it at major international hockey tournaments) for just a few moments, they would understand that the country that really deserves the most pressure and expectation on it is not their own team but Russia. And the player who probably deserves most of the upcoming heat is Alexander Ovechkin – again.

This writer has scourged Ovechkin over the coals for several years now, mostly about his Washington Capital record. Ovechkin has loads of glorious individual awards, scoring titles, Hart trophies, etc., but his team record is horrible. The Washington Capitals with Ovechkin have yet to play in an Eastern Conference Final let alone compete for the Stanley Cup. This year the team with the most pressure on it was dispatched in six games in the second round of the playoffs by the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins – despite Ovechkin and his colleague Nicklas Backstrom outplaying their rivals, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin – and after running away with the President’s Trophy. Somehow with Ovechkin, Washington still finds ways to lose. Ovechkin is not the heir of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux but Marcel Dionne, who had a similar NHL career.

But even worse is Ovechkin’s international record. The “Ovechkin era” in Russian/Soviet hockey has been the worst since the Russians/Soviets began playing against NHL competition in 1972. At the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, Russia lost in the quarter finals to Canada 7-3 which was probably the worst game this writer has ever seen a Russian/Soviet team play against Canada.

Even worse was another quarter final loss in 2014 on home ice at the Sochi Olympics, this time to Finland 3-1. The “Ovechkin era” in Russian hockey has been horrible, a steep fall for a country that was usually ranked #2 in international hockey tournaments behind only Canada if not the favored #1 team. Now Russia is just one of the group of “big 7″ countries, not picked to win the upcoming World Cup or even feared like they used to be. And since Ovechkin is the main guy on the team, like he is in Washington, the pressure and the attention naturally falls on him.

Hopefully for Russia, being the underdog for once will help the team’s fortunes. Another blatant setback for Russia should mean a lot of soul searching and another black mark on Ovechkin’s tattered belt. At the very least this team has to get to the semi-finals and win some sort of medal. Sweden, Finland, the United States and Czech Republic can go home and lick their wounds if they lose. Canada and Russia will return in the dismal depths of despair if they fail.

This may be Ovechkin’s last chance to make a significant mark internationally. He is already past his physical prime and the next major international competition will be the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea if the NHL decides to participate. He has to be desperate to get some sort of team triumph both with Russia and with Washington. He does not want to be ranked with Marcel Dionne as the best player in NHL history whose team career amounted to mediocrity. But that is how history will judge him if Russia and Washington continue to find ways to ignominiously lose, starting with this revived World Cup.

So we’ve done many, many interviews with players, but every now and then we like to switch it up and interview hockey-related people like scouts, and we’ve done that once again! This time we have an interview with Momentum Hockey Player Agent/Advisor Scott Deady! Although agents are often overlooked in importance, ask any player and they’ll tell you right away how important having an agent is. Momentum Hockey provides services from Athlete Marketing to Tax Planning and everything in between. To learn more about Momentum Hockey check out their website here. To learn more about Scott, make sure to follow him on Twitter. He doesn’t exclusively talk about his clients and is a fun follow! If you enjoy what we do, you can follow us or like us. Without any more of my rambling, here is our interview with Scott Deady!

Editor’s note: Comments have been edited for clarity. We are in bold.

So according to your Twitter bio, you’re a Player Agent/Advisor for Momentum Hockey. Is there a difference between an agent and an advisor?

Yes there’s a big difference. Agents represent pros while advisors represent amateurs. Agents also act as advisors but it’s important to differentiate between the two because each comes with different responsibilities and, more importantly, restrictions. Some of the things we do for our pro clients as agents would be in violation of NCAA regulations when dealing with an amateur player. You have to be very careful to stay within the confines of the regulations and act only in an “advisory” capacity to ensure no chances are being taken with the players’ amateur status.

What’s a day in the life of a Player Agent/Advisor?

There really isn’t a “typical” day in my job. It all depends on what’s going on in hockey or with clients.

If it’s a weekday, I start my morning off with a cup of coffee, hop online, and check out any news from the previous day/night I may have missed. Player signings, trades, industry business…really anything pertaining to the world of hockey. Then I go through my reminders I set the day before. Emailing coaches and scouts, checking in with clients and their families, reaching out to potential and current marketing partners. Taking new calls…all depends on what happened the day(s) before.

If it’s a weekend, I’m at the rink. Usually start off early in the day with some of the younger kids. Might have to shuffle around to a couple of arenas. By 5 or 6 it’s usually time to focus on the older clients. Might be heading to a Junior game or college game, might mean watching a game online, might mean heading to the UC or watching one of our NHL guys on TV. All depends.

People often only hear about the flashy parts of being an agent/advisor, such as the contract negotiations and trade requests. What are some less flashy parts of being an agent/advisor?

Most of it haha. Best way I can describe it is with a story. A few years back I was in Detroit for a AAA showcase. At the same time, I had a client playing in the OHL who had a Saturday night game in Windsor and a Sunday afternoon game in Sarnia. So I spent Saturday in Detroit, drove across the border to Ontario that night and went to the game. On my way back to Detroit that night, there was a huge blizzard. I pulled up to the border and was the only person on the road let alone crossing the border at 2am. The border patrol guard asked me the usual questions…”Where are you heading?” “Detroit.” “And you’re staying there?” “Well no, I’ll be back in the morning.” “For what?” “The same client who I saw tonight has another game tomorrow.” “And how long will you be staying in Canada then?” “Only for a couple of hours…I’ll be coming back to the States tomorrow afternoon.” “I’m assuming you’re an agent?” “ Yeah.” “Well (as she looks around at the barren road…) I suppose it really isn’t like Jerry Maguire eh?”

Many agents have a specialty, what’s yours?

Well I’m a lawyer so I suppose I’d have to say contracts would be my specialty. Not so much the playing contracts – those are standard boilerplate, fill in the blank deals. But in order to be creative and structure deals within the confines of the CBA, you have to understand the CBA. And the CBA is a legal document just like any contract. Obviously part of law school is being able to read and interpret legal documents. It’s probably the area where my law degree comes in handy the most.

How do you as a Player Player Agent/Advisor market yourself so potential clients choose Momentum Hockey instead of other firms?

It’s all about personal relationships and your reputation. We focus on being selective with who we recruit so that each player is a person to us, not just a number on a balance sheet. Sorry I can’t give you more than that but our specific recruiting methods are kept internal.

Most people don’t grow up wanting to be an agent/advisor. How did you decide that you wanted to be in a Player Agent/Advisor?

I actually probably came as close to growing up wanting to become an agent as anyone has. Playing in the Tretiak Cup, which evolved into the Bauer Invite, we were asked to house Russian players. At the time, I was smart enough to know I wasn’t going to the NHL. But I wanted to stay involved in the sport and some of the kids who stayed with my family did have that potential. I had a slight urge to pursue a legal career and parents from my teams growing up would back me up when I say I always had a knack for sales. So I decided to skip Junior hockey, head straight to college at 18, and direct the focus of my undergraduate and law school work to put me in the best position to help other hockey players achieve their dream of playing in the NHL.

Most exciting thing you’ve done as a Player Agent/Advisor?

It’s all relative. Most of the things that I thought were “exciting” happened earlier in my career – before I was established. Meeting with the Russian Olympic Committee in Moscow was probably one of them. In undergrad I took Russian for three years and kept in touch with my Russian friends. So when I travelled to Moscow to visit some clients I was able to get a meeting with the Olympic Committee. One other notable “shake yourself” moment was the first time i received a call from a former NHLer, who now works for the same NHL team he played for. He was calling about a client of mine. As a Chicago native and Blackhawks fan, my entire childhood was ruined by him tormenting the team I loved most. I’m sure there are plenty of things I do on a daily basis now that years ago I would’ve considered exciting. Spend enough time in the industry and you realize we’re all just people working in the same industry.

Most painstaking thing you do as a Player Agent/Advisor?

I don’t know if this fits the description, but once I flew to Columbus, OH to see a goaltender I’m advising. I flew in, checked in at my hotel, showered, changed, drove to the rink, only to see that the coach decided to play the other goaltender since it was only a preliminary game of their District Tournament. I have way too many other stories about brutal travel schedules but the best stories are from when I first started out and didn’t have the resources to fly everywhere I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I still drive a ton…and they’re boring drives. But I’d never make the Chicago-Toronto-New Haven-New York City-Chicago drive, like I did five years ago, at this point in my career.

If you’re referring to more of an emotional drain, the worst part is hearing about players being taken advantage of by “advisors” trying to get rich quick. I’ve seen emails from “advisors” (and yes i’m intentionally including the quotation marks) to coaches about players they’ve never even personally seen play. What coach is going to take that seriously? And then to hear that a family paid that “advisor” thousands of dollars? It makes me sick. Hockey is a very small and tight circle. If you’re a parent or player being approached by an advisor, make sure to do your homework and ask around about them first.

The trend is moving towards agents approaching players younger and younger, what is your stance on it and why do you believe this is happening?

It’s happening because everyone wants to win the race. If you’re the only one at the table, you have a better shot of landing a kid than a scenario where there are five other groups talking to them. There are different timelines in the U.S. and Canada. Kids are getting recruited much earlier north of the border. In the U.S., there’s a general understanding about when we start approaching players and their families. I think for the most part the more competent agencies know that the younger you recruit, the harder it is to project pro potential. So many factors come into play. Every year I pick up one or two 17 year olds who were “late bloomers.” And every year you see a kid who was “the next best thing” at age 13 fade away. Those “advising” companies I referred to before who are just looking to make a quick dollar don’t care as much about long-term potential so they might not care. That’s what makes us different.

Who should we interview next?

It’s too bad you can’t interview my car. She knows all the best stories.

Advice for people wanting to enter the business?

Don’t try to get into the industry with one foot in and one foot out. You’ll fade away like I’ve seen so many “new faces” at the rink do. Unless your next-door neighbor or best friend is on the doorstep of the NHL and wants you to represent him, be prepared for a very long road of tough hours and very little income. I spent the weekend nights of my 20’s in ice rinks watching Bantam and Midget hockey while my friends were out at the bars. I don’t regret it one bit, but it’s still a major sacrifice.

I remember a conversation I had with the guys running the first agency I worked with right out of law school. After offering me a job they told me that after meeting with me a couple of times over the course of several days, they said to each other, “this kid is dumb enough to succeed in this industry with or without us…we’d better hire him.” Even then I didn’t really know how tough of a road it would be. But today I’m glad I was that stupid at the time. To me, it was worth it to be able to do what I love for the rest of my life.

At the same time be leery of potential “opportunities.” I’ve heard too many stories of firms bringing a kid on to scout for them only to have that same company steal the scouts “clients” and push him to the side. Don’t think that getting in with an agency is your golden ticket. Surround yourself with good people and put in the work. This isn’t a “normal” industry to work in…and in a lot of ways I’m glad it’s not.

Canada is always the country which has the most pressure on it to win international hockey tournaments, be they professional, junior, or women. As the main originator of the game we all love and the original source of development for the NHL, Canadian hockey fans regard it almost as a divine duty to be just a little bit better than the other six great powers of the “big 7″, Sweden, Finland, USA, Russia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

But for this World Cup there is added pressure. For a start, this is the first World Cup since 2004. Canada won that tournament after a tough 3-2 victory over Finland in the Final. In the long 12 years since the last tournament no one knows except for the Olympic competition whether Canada’s best players are still tops in the world.

But what really puts added pressure on Canada this year is the result of the 2015-16 NHL season where not one Canadian franchise made the playoffs, a humiliating fate that had not occurred since 1970. Sure it can be blamed on the odds – American franchises outnumber Canadian ones 23-7 – the NHL draft, the Canadian dollar, etc., but coupled with the fact that a Canadian NHL franchise has not won the Stanley Cup since 1993, these top international competitions like the World Cup and the Olympics are the only way Canadians can reassure themselves that they are still the best hockey playing country in the world.

The World Cup and the Olympics are the only times when the absolute best of all Canada’s hockey talents come together to prove they are the best in the world. Sidney Crosby may play for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jonathan Toews may play for the Chicago Blackhawks, American franchises in the NHL, but now they are on one team playing for Canada. And the ghosts from the past will be on them. Bobby Orr at the first Canada Cup in 1976, and then later Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. All this will be felt by every player on Canada. They carry a burden no other team in these events has.

A bad result for Canada in this tournament, especially on home ice in Toronto, and there may be talk at official levels, in the press, and privately among the Canadian public about the decline of Canadian hockey. Canada has a type of collective “inferiority complex”; they do not like boasting and bragging, especially among themselves, though they do love praise from others, particularly from American television commentators – except in hockey. There they are the experts, the know-it-alls. Canada knows everything there is to know about hockey. They regard it as “our game” (though surprisingly curling is supposed to be officially Canada’s national sport). A torrent of excuses and self analysis will follow if there is anything less than victory or (horrors!) an early exit from the tournament.

So there is a lot at stake for Canada in this tournament, more than any other team. The rest of the teams can go home if they lose this tournament, suck it up and try to be better for 2020. But for Canada, if they lose this tournament, there will be a neurotic trauma that will haunt them for the next four years.

On the eve of the first NHL revived World Cup in 12 years, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr talked about NHL International Hockey developments. They talked about using the momentum building off the upcoming tournament to spark new international hockey initiatives.

They talked about a return of NHL exhibition and regular season games in other countries. They talked about staging future World Cups in other countries. They talked about future NHL Olympics participation. They talked about introducing a Ryder-Cup style international tournament. All commendable and welcomed. But they did not talk about international hockey’s worst problem; quality.

Since the famous Canada-USSR match of 1972, there have been 7 “great powers” in international hockey; Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. After that there is a sharp drop in the caliber of play. In the 44 years since 1972, only Switzerland and recently Denmark have shown any improvement in the caliber of play, dismal results for four decades of potential improvement and expansion in international hockey. Back in 1972, after the amazing Canada-USSR tournament, there were boasts that hockey would one day be the number 2 sport in the world behind soccer. The results of the past 44 years show that they are still at the starting point.

The upcoming World Cup is an open display of international failure. There are only 6 countries participating and Slovakia is not even being allowed to ice a team. At international tournaments where more than the “big 7″ participate, when one of the “big 7″ plays a “B level” country, in too many times to count, the result is likely to be a boring mismatch in which the “big 7″ team scores double digit goals. So to prevent such embarrassments in the upcoming World Cup, Bettman has created “Team Europe” composed of players from every other European country, and “Team North America” composed of North American NHL players under 23 years of age. It’s a bandage at best. It does not expand international hockey and it does not improve the quality of play. It is an open admission of failure to develop hockey in four decades.

The only reference to improved quality of play mentioned was when Bettman and Fehr talked about the Boston Bruins hosting clinics in China, the Los Angeles Kings hosting Chinese players at clinics in California, and the New York Islanders drafting a Chinese player in the 6th round of the 2015 draft. In focusing on China, it is obvious that money talks. Of course China is potentially the richest international hockey market in the world. The problem with choosing China is that it is ranked 37th internationally. Developing hockey in China is at best a long shot right now. It cannot help international hockey immediately.

To make matters worse is the state of international women’s hockey. Only Canada and the United States ice competitive teams and there have been threats to expel the sport from the Winter Olympics due to lack of international competition.

What Bettman and Fehr did not discuss are concrete plans to raise the standard of play in international hockey – now. What they did not discuss is ways to get the large number of countries stuck at the “B level” – Switzerland, Denmark, Slovenia, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Belarus, Norway – over the hump of mediocrity so that there can be a real expansion of competition in future World Cups and other international tournaments. Raising the level of play in these countries can help international hockey right now. Future World Cups should have 12, even 16 teams competing, all with a good chance to win it all. Getting the countries that are just below the “big 7″ in caliber of play up to equal status should be the number one job of international hockey right now.

If the NHL and the “big 7″ really want international hockey to grow they have to formulate concrete plans to raise the standard of play. It cannot be just occasional sporadic clinics but something continuous that brings immediate positive results. And while it is commendable to raise the standard of play in China and other lower level countries, these are long term developments and does not solve international hockey’s immediate needs. Raising the quality of play in those countries who can help you now should be the first priority.

All the exciting developments that Bettman and Fehr talked about are welcome news to international hockey fans, but quality of play is still the big albatross hanging around international hockey’s neck. When the day comes when Bettman and Fehr call a press conference where they lay out plans to really improve the quality of play in the “B level” countries, that will be a real, significant development, a revolution in international hockey. For now, all true international hockey fans can do is say, “All very nice”, and smile.

Now that the NHL has brought back the World Cup and plans to hold it every four years, the question is how to develop it because the current format is unsuitable. Compared to soccer’s World Cup and even to curling’s World Championship, hockey’s World Cup is pathetic. But the good news is that it has the potential to be something really significant on the international sports scene and just to get it back after twelve years in the wilderness is a step in the right direction.

Right now there are 7 “great powers” in hockey, Canada, USA, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and Slovakia is not even being allowed to ice a team. Instead there will be two made-for-competition teams, one called “Europe” which consists of players from every other European country, and “North America”, a team made up of North American players under 23 years of age.

The tournament in the current format is actually an admission of four decades of failure to develop international hockey since the famous Canada-USSR contest of 1972. Immediately after that thrilling event, there were boasts that hockey would become the number 2 sport in the world after soccer but after 44 years, the same 7 countries rule the hockey world. After the “big 7″ there is a sharp drop-off in the quality of hockey played internationally. Only in Switzerland and recently Denmark has there been any development in the direction of quality to ice a competitive team in tournaments like the World Cup.

Usually in tournaments where more countries than the “big 7″ compete, when a “big 7″ team plays a “B level” team in the opening round robin, the result is a boring mismatch, sometimes with the established country reaching double digits in scoring. It was to prevent such boring, pre-determined results that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman came up with the idea of Team Europe and Team North America.

But this can only be a temporary bandage. A “World Cup” that only has 7 competitive teams is not going to go anywhere or command much respect in the long-run. Even more laughable is the state of women’s hockey where only Canada and the United States ice competitive teams and there have been threats to expel the sport from the Winter Olympics.

So the hockey World Cup has to be broadened. 2016 is a good starting point but by 2020 there has to be improvement. No more Team Europe and Team North America but the admission of countries that play the same caliber of hockey as the “big 7″ and have a real chance to win the tournament.

There are 50 countries ranked in world competition but they vary widely in development. The most obvious solution is to pick some of the countries stuck at the “B level” and raise the caliber of play in them. That means during the next four years, the NHL and the national hockey bodies of the “big 7″ countries make a real investment in some of these developing countries to raise the level of play in them so that there can be a real expansion of international competition. Somehow curling has managed to do that; why can’t hockey?

Ideally, the World Cup should have 16 or more teams competing. Soccer’s World Cup starts with 32 teams. Right now 16 competitive teams is probably too high a goal to reach but a tournament of 12 competitive teams would be a significant development.

For 2020, Slovakia should be competing and Switzerland and Denmark should be developed further. That makes nine teams. Then pick some of the teams from the B level group (the more countries the better) and get at least three more up to the caliber of play of the “big 7″. Candidates include France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, Norway, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Slovenia, and Belarus.

The World Cup of Hockey has the potential to be just as exciting as soccer’s World Cup. It is up to the NHL and the “big 7″ countries to realize that potential by expanding the competition.

Decades ago I wrote a poem called “The Background Man”, a poem about history’s unnoticed people who make things happen. He is the guy who hated Christ from the very first moment he saw him and then conveniently arranged to be in Jerusalem anonymously in a large mob to shout “Crucify him” when Pilate put him on trial. She is the woman who was a servant of King Charles I of Great Britain who passed along a secret warning to the opposition leaders in the House of Commons that Charles was coming in person to the House to arrest them, allowing them to escape thus triggering the English Civil War. He is the man who made it possible for exiled Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin to return to Russia from Switzerland through enemy territory in a sealed German railway car.

There are many unknowns who have anonymously played key roles in history but right now in sports, my candidate for the current title of “Best Background Man” is NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Right now he is involved in an important anonymous duty, finding a suitable owner for a returned Quebec Nordiques.

As I have written in many previous articles, Gary Bettman made a tour in 2010 of the three cities that lost their teams in the 1990s, Quebec, Winnipeg, and Hartford, and offered them reasonable terms for a return to the NHL; great fan support (no problem for all three cities), a proper NHL arena, and a suitable NHL owner.

When Canada’s richest man David Thomson, along with Mark Chipman expressed interest in bringing back an NHL team to Winnipeg, Bettman told them to be patient as he knew he might have an ownership crisis in Atlanta. So when operating a team from Atlanta became impossible, there was Gary with all the behind the scenes background work done, ready to announce that the Thrashers would be quickly shifted to Winnipeg.

Now he is faced with a crisis in Quebec City. Quebec, with Bettman’s encouragement built a first class NHL arena and now wants back into the NHL. But the potential owner, media giant Quebecor is unacceptable to the NHL because its majority owner, Pierre Karl Peladeau made personal racist attacks on NHL Board member Geoff Molson that were offensive not only to Molson but probably to the majority of the Board of Governors.

Bettman does not want to go back on his word to Quebec City, nor offend important people like the Quebec City Mayor and the Quebec Provincial Premier. When the Quebecor bid was turned down, neither the Mayor nor the Premier, who have every reason to publicly denounce Bettman as a double crosser, who did not keep his word after they spent nearly $400 million tax dollars on a new arena, have said not one negative word. Most likely as soon Bettman realized that Peladeau would not be an acceptable NHL owner, he went privately to both the Mayor and the Premier and told them to keep on building the arena while he dealt with the ownership problem.

Now Mario Lemieux, a lifelong Pittsburgh Penguin suddenly puts his ownership shares up for sale. Then Patrick Roy, vice-president and coach of his former team, the Colorado Avalanche suddenly quits. But both men also have strong ties to Quebec City and as French Canadian hockey heroes, would make ideal owners for a returned Nordiques. It would not be surprising that behind-the-scenes Bettman went to both men and asked them to front an acceptable ownership group and that it has the blessing of ex-Nordique Joe Sakic, the current general manager of Colorado. Stay tuned to see what else develops.

Bettman has done other significant background work. He found acceptable owners for Ottawa, Florida, and Tampa Bay. He negotiated the rich Canadian and American television deals. Phoenix somehow still survives with an NHL team. And he is probably working on finding two new western expansion cities to balance up the league conferences.

Here is a problem that has been around for nearly three decades: getting an NHL team into Hamilton, Ontario. But here is the starting point. If I am a potential owner with $500 million to spend, the first thing to do is get Gary Bettman on my side and then let him work in the background behind the scenes. Because if I want Hamilton in the NHL, that may be the only way to accomplish it.

Everybody is questioning and speculating why Patrick Roy has resigned as coach and vice president of the Colorado Avalanche but to me it would not be surprising if it really has to do with the Quebec City situation.

First the background. In 2010, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made a tour of the three cities that lost their NHL franchises in the 1990s, Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg, and offered them terms for readmission to the league; a great fan base, a proper NHL arena, and an acceptable NHL owner. Winnipeg is already back in and Quebec built a new arena with Bettman’s encouragement and applied unsuccessfully for an expansion franchise.

The NHL is publicly explaining that the reason for the rejection of Quebec is the low Canadian dollar and that Quebec is an eastern city and they need another western team to balance up the conferences, but that is not the real reason. The NHL wants nothing to do with Pierre Karl Peladeau, majority owner of Quebecor which sought to be the new Quebec owner. Peladeau is a supporter of the separatist Quebec political party Parti Quebecois, and squashed whatever little chance he had of joining the NHL Board of Governors by publicly questioning the suitability of Board member Geoff Molson owning the Montreal Canadiens because he was an anglophone Quebecer. Such blatant racism was offensive not only to Molson but probably to the majority of the English-speaking NHL Board. Bettman had no choice but to reject Quebec’s bid.

At the same time, that put Bettman on the spot. He is not going to make a tour of cities, offer them terms and then reject them when they make a strong attempt to comply like Quebec has. He is not going offend important people like the Quebec City mayor, the Quebec Provincial Premier, encourage them and their communities to spend nearly $400 million tax dollars on a new arena and then not accept them. The NHL’s and his own personal integrity is on the line. The NHL also wants that $500 million expansion fee. So right now behind the scenes, he is attempting to find a suitable owner for a new Quebec City team.

Is it just coincidence that Pittsburgh Penguin owner Mario Lemieux is trying to sell his share of ownership and that Patrick Roy resigns from Colorado? There is no real reason for Lemieux to sell his shares in the Penguins or for Roy to quit the Colorado Avalanche. Both men have strong emotional ties to the teams they are leaving. For Lemieux, owning the Penguins is a dream come true just as it is for Roy to coach and be vice president of the Colorado Avalance, and also work for his friend and teammate Joe Sakic.

There has to be some strong inducement for them to leave and the probable answer is involvement with a new Quebec City team and both Lemieux and Roy have strong emotional ties to Quebec City. They are also the ideal potential owners for Gary Bettman and the NHL; French Canadian NHL heroes with no political ties who would put the team and the NHL first above any other consideration. They would be welcomed to the NHL Board by Molson and every other NHL governor.

So while everybody is scratching their heads about Roy’s resignation, my guess is that he and probably Lemieux will be involved with a returned Quebec Nordiques, and that ex-Nordique Sakic knows and approves of it though he’ll publicly pretend that he does not.

Gary Bettman is moving behind the scenes and Roy’s resignation from Colorado may be the next step in solving the Quebec problem. There may be other former French Canadian NHL players who will make some unexpected startling decisions in the future too. And what about former Nordique players? Can the Stastny brothers and Michel Goulet be far behind?

Quebec City is coming back into the NHL. It is just a matter of time and finding the right people.